Blatter, Johansson, once enemies, now form bond behind mutual interests.

By Robert Wagman
SoccerTimes

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Wednesday, January 26, 2000) -- Unless you were paying
very close attention, you may have missed this feel-good story which came
out of Zurich, Switzerland during the holidays. World governing body FIFA
president Sepp Blatter and European soccer chief Lennart Johansson have
officially buried the hatchet -- and somewhat surprisingly, not in each
other's skulls.

Switzerland's Blatter and Sweden's Johansson ran against each other for
FIFA president in a campaign that was both nasty and bitter, and one which
left deep scars. Each accused the other of all sorts of cheating and
dastardly deeds. When Blatter finally emerged as the winner, Johansson
retreated to his job as UEFA president to lick his wounds.

Now, says Blatter "Lennart and I buried the hatchet at the World Cup draw
in Tokyo, but this does not make headlines."

Actually, this rapprochement could not have come at a more opportune time
because the two men, and their respective organizations, are going to need
each other desperately in the coming months. First there is the subject
near and dear to Blatter's heart, his FIFA World Club Championship. The
inaugural tournament held in early January in Brazil was far from an
artistic or commercial success. Some 73,000 did show up for the final, in
which Corinthians defeated fellow Brazilian side Vasco da Gama 4-3 on
penalty kicks after the two teams played to a scoreless draw.

It was a good thing the final was between two popular Brazilian teams,
because the Brazilian fans had stayed away in droves from matches featuring
non-Brazilian teams. For instance, in one doubleheader, some 70,000 fans
watched Vasco play England's Manchester United in the opening match, and
then an estimated 69,000 of them left before Mexico's Necaxa squared off
against Australia's South Melbourne in the second match. On another
occasion, crowds of less than 8,000 showed up for matches not featuring one
of the two Brazilian entries, even when teams such as Man. U. and Spain's
Real Madrid were playing.

Blatter badly wants this tournament, with its potential windfall of
worldwide television revenue, but the two European entries are going home
less than thrilled with the results or the way the tournament disrupted
their domestic league and Champions League schedules. This tournament will
not continue without, at least, the semi-enthusiastic support of the
European federations, and Blatter is absolutely dependent upon Johansson to
keep the European federations in line.

For Blatter, there is a price to pay. He gets almost misty-eyed thinking
about the tens of millions of extra dollars that could fill FIFA's coffers
if only the World Cup could be held every two years instead of every four.
But doing so would all but eliminate UEFA's biannual European
championships, that will next be contested this June in the Netherlands and
Belgium. Johansson was incensed when Blatter made his original announcement
that he would push for a World Cup every two years. Now that goal has
clearly receded from FIFA's wish list. But Johansson needs Blatter just as
much to again beat back calls for the formation of a super league.

Last year a Milan-based sports marketing group, Media Partners, essentially
fronting for some of the biggest Italian and Spanish clubs (the so-called
G-14 group of the largest and most prosperous European clubs) attempted to
form a new made-for-pay- TV league of the elite of Europe with perhaps an
American and South American team thrown in. It would have meant the instant
death of UEFA's very lucrative Champions League and UEFA Cup competitions.

Johansson managed to stave off Media Partners by expanding the Champions
League and offering the participating teams more money.But they are still
unhappy. Real Madrid's president Lorenzo Sanz, the G-14 group's
spokesperson, says the result is too many meaningless matches and not
enough money. So the Super League has risen its head again, and this time
Media Partners has sued in the European Court to prevent UEFA from
interfering. If Johansson is to again stave off this revolt of the elite
teams, he is going to need Blatter at his side.

Then there is the so-called "Atlantic League." In a number of the national
leagues of the smaller soccer powers of Europe, countries such as Scotland,
Portugal, the Netherlands Sweden and Norway, the domestic first divisions
are absolutely dominated by one, two or three teams. These teams run away
with the championships each year, but spend most of the year playing teams
in their league in front of small crowds in money-losing situations. So the
suggestion is these teams join forces in a new multi-national league.

Obviously the withdrawal of their marquee teams would wreck havoc on these
national leagues. They are also looking at Johansson to somehow head off
the Atlantic League. He in turn is looking to Blatter. And Blatter has
forcefully replied. "We must protect the national associations and the
clubs against any attempts to create various leagues outside of the
existing confederations, outside of our FIFA family,"

Blatter said this week from Moscow where he was unveiling a plan to help
the federations in former Soviet Union countries. "Just 10 days ago, I had
a meeting with Mr. Lennart Johansson and both of us absolutely agreed that
these leagues shall not be permitted," he said. "Those who do not follow
our laws shall be expelled. We can't allow some clubs just to come in, take
the best and go away, because we must look after all our members and not
just a few."

Then there are other critical issues such as the salary-cap proposal
Johansson is pushing, and Blatter's proposal that there be a limit on the
number of foreign players that can be on the field at any one time for
professional teams. Blatter and Johansson -- each needs the other
desperately in this soccer marriage of convenience.

Senior correspondent Robert Wagman's "It Seems To Me . . . " appears regularly
on SoccerTimes. He can be e-mailed at SoccerWag1@aol.com.